On the "Hessian Dreamworld"

Maybe a month or so ago, someone said a few things that caught my attention:

"Nobody really believes that metal will lead some great revolution, or will inspire any form of change. If they do, they live in The Hessian Dreamworld."

And:

"The rest of that fantastical assbabble underscores the folly of falling victim to The Hessian Dreamworld. You are totally out of touch. 99% of all people exposed to extreme metal never adopt healthy Hessian viewpoints, and in modern times, 90% of extreme metalheads don't even subscribe to them."

First, let me say that I agree in part. If the Hessian Idea is essentially to convert metal as a whole into a revolutionary force, it seems obvious that it is absurd. A cursory examination of the general condition of metal and its hordes of fans will suggest to us that our basic raw material is not up to par. As we all know, and have discussed to death a thousand times, the majority of metalheads are more or less your average fellows, perhaps even a bit more neurotic and prone to degenerate behavior than other demographics. In no way have they proven themselves to be anything but another subculture of consumers.

A more careful examination, however, will reveal that amongst the hordes of halfwits, there is a minority who identify and appreciate an element of something more in the music. The development of ANUS is a direct result of the self-organization of such individuals. And it is clear that the ideas espoused by ANUS are striking chords with an increasing amount of people. Additionally, though this is one of the more obvious Hessian islands out there, it is not a truly isolated phenomenon. I am frequently surprised to come in contact with individuals who "get it". Further, they don't all "come from" this site. They aren't just aping what they see here. It is something that has organically arisen from their own understanding and experience of metal.

If you've been paying attention, you may have noticed that this is also occuring within other musical subgenres and subcultures. The neofolk phenomenon, while hosting it's share of fashion-clowns and hipsters, also has been attracting people genuinely interested in nihilism, nationalism, romanticism, integralism and other ideas directly connected to metal. Some branches of electronic music have been moving in this direction as well. These people are picking up books and beginning to make the important realization that there might be more to our society than meets the eye... That there might be more to life than working, fucking and collecting albums in their spare time.

These people are not common. They are maybe one in twenty, probably less; but it doesn't matter. This isn't about mass. It isn't about revolutionizing the whole of metal (or any other musical subculture), or about metal in of itself becoming a kind of battle flag. It is about finding the minority who matter, those few who make the connection between the music, the ideas and the action that must follow. It is about finding these people, recognizing the raw potential we have as a group and channeling that energy into something constructive. It is about intelligence, application and drive. It is about transcending the insipid musical subcultures that hold us back, and taking the next step. If you do this, you're not going to be "metal" anymore. You're going to be something better.

Recognize that the ideas that metal connects to are valid, maybe even vital. If you truly are moved by this music, it must mean that some part of you wishes to see these ideas flourish. Breathe some life into them! Work to give them the power to actually take root in our society and matter. We can work towards this collectively, or as individuals, but we're sure to get the best results by arriving at consensus together and putting our ideas into practice in the real world collectively.

This is not a "Hessian Dreamworld" if we recognize the following: Because all things in this world are interrelated, metal is a small part of a much larger picture. You don't have to abandon the "small picture" of metal, but you do have to address and get involved in the bigger picture.

At this point, it may be useful to talk about some immediate, broad, realistic Hessian goals.

1. Spread the appreciation for metal as a valid artform and reveal the world of ideas it directly relates to. Do this where it matters. This means academic institutions, journalistic publications, and music academies. Don't waste time trying to "convert" people or convince those who do not wish to increase their understanding. It will only demoralize you.

2. Look into the possibility of establishing real world Hessian communities. These have potential value in providing a stable foundation for further Hessian projects as well as creating the basis for healthier real-world communities in general. Reject the world of artificial interactions and make-work that constitutes city life. Foster increased independence from the overall social infrastructure and live in a way compatible with Hessian ideals of Vir. This is a project that warrants a serious think-tank approach at the moment.

3. Get involved generally. Become a warrior for your ideas in your immediate surroundings. Stand up for them and actively attack the ideological systems which have reduced our world to an overflowing toilet. Do this where it matters: School, your social clique, your family, etc. Put your ideas into practice wherever you can. You can have a very direct impact on the lives of people you are close to.

I'm sure there are many other concrete goals we could come up with. Put your heads together.

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Dunkelheit

Excellent post, I agree wholeheartedly. I think that too often people see Metal as some independent worldview only possible in our current time. What metal expresses though, is the same thing found in the ancient hymns of the Rigveda or the Romantic art of the more recent past. Its application and medium are most definitely modern, but the ideal is not. What this music can do is inspire us to reach our true potential, to transcend the current state of the world, and to establish a better designed and more sane society. The goal is to nihilistically remove the corrupted and illusory values of our time in order to place healthier ideals which coincide with nature in their place. Metal has its flaws but its job has essentually been done. It is the art which can inspire a new generation which has the tools to get humanity back on track.

The important thing to do right now, as you said, is to communicate and organize. The next step is for our worldviews to be published and communicated adequately to spread its message and give it validity. You also mentioned Hessian communities, which is a great idea, but we at least in the meantime need to educate ourselves and each others on more traditional, sustainable, and self-reliant modes of living. I like what you said in number 3 also, as it is something that can be done every single day without any great effort put towards it or any organization. When you realize that you are in a situation which would allow you to apply your worldview at the benefit to yourself and others, you should.

I think ANUS/Corrupt have the ideas needed to do this, it just needs to become a bit more structured and be able to encourage participation and lead others in the right direction.

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Divus_de_Mortuus

Many within the confines of The Hessian Dreamworld, as I called it, would have you believe that doing such things will lead to change in today's society. They won't. Change will only come after the Great Collapse of this civilization in the near future, at which time ideals that at times seem the exclusive province of metal will take hold in humanity, with or without metal and independent of it, for these ideals did not originate with metal.

However, being activist can still yield fruit. Some people can be "converted" outright in these times, but the real fruits of metal activism will only grow from the seeds we plant today, after the Great Collapse, and ideals that once seemed alien, cruel and fantastical to people will come soaring home to roost.

Since these ideas originate outside of metal, we can use metal to spread them, or we can choose not to. In fact, for many people, metal may prove to be too great a distraction for them to understand the ideals we are trying to express. "Metal" and all the baggage that comes with it may cloud these messages. Discretion will need to be used to decide how to handle activism and activities.

That said, to get too carried away in all this, and to believe that ultimately metal isn't just a form of counter-culture art/entertainment aimed at dissentients, cynics and people born hundreds of years too late, is foolish. Indeed it is this very realization that has led to countless breakups, sellouts and crises of faith among the great bands over the years.

For me, the focus has shifted inward, towards myself and my family. I would rather raise balanced, healthy children and ensure my family is cared for than scatter a thousand seeds among the wretched wastes of society. Hessians should at the core of all their activism raise productive families, so these values can be continued on after where gone. Who is to say the Great Collapse will happen in 20 years? What if the Curse of Technology slowly draws out societyís death over a hundred years, or even longer? The seeds we plant today may have no chance to grow.

Divus_de_Mortuus

If Hessianism wants to be a revolution, it needs to identify its philosophy.

Big Problem: metalheads are too busy being individualistic to agree on anything, or help out

Individualism as presented and worshipped in society is a myth. All it means to is the freedom to choose from what type of plastic subculture you wish to consume. Cowboy? Redneck? Hippie? Biker? Liberal? Christian? Faggot? Junkie? African American by proxy? There is a store in the mall designed for you.

The individualism of Hessians and respectable metal fans is different. Only a truly individualistic type person(i.e.- someone that doesn't believe the myth) would be attracted to metal. This in turn means that collaboration and co-operation may always be a problem.

The individualism of Hessians and respectable metal fans is different. Only a truly individualistic type person(i.e.- someone that doesn't believe the myth) would be attracted to metal. This in turn means that collaboration and co-operation may always be a problem.

Why do we need individualism at all?

We already have individuality. Individualism is like shouting at your enemies. Individuality is the reality. To make any kind of theory out of it is to try to use it as a surrogate, like a denial of mortality.

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shadowmystic

I see no logical way that society would not collapse in the near future. It seems highly improbable considering current population growth amongst other factors that western civilisation can sustain itself much longer, without degenerating into third world states, but that it what is meant by collapse anyway. Multiple factors are now putting a great degree of pressure on America, they are economically unstable, hated in most of the world, and the many years of destroying the environment are now manifesting as problems all over the world, global warming being the most obvious one. The end of western civilisation as we know it is imminent, it is ignorant and simply a denial of facts not to admit it.

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Divus_de_Mortuus

Metalist, I don't want to go to deep into this subject right now but some quick hits -

We live in a welfare state. Currently taxes from the baby boomers pay for this. They are all about to retire and become takers. There will no way our economy could support that. Our country is much more culturally divided than it was the last time we had an economic panic. There will be no way to recover. By the end of our lifetimes America will split into smaller states.

Metalist, I don't want to go to deep into this subject right now but some quick hits -

We live in a welfare state. Currently taxes from the baby boomers pay for this. They are all about to retire and become takers. There will no way our economy could support that. Our country is much more culturally divided than it was the last time we had an economic panic. There will be no way to recover. By the end of our lifetimes America will split into smaller states.

Why do you worry about this when the issue of peek oil is right around the corner?

Why do you worry about this when the issue of peek oil is right around the corner?

Howdy, new guy here. Just wanted to mention that the Peak Oil scenario is conspiracy propaganda aimed at getting us consumers to ACCEPT insanely high (and rising) prices at the gas pump. I highly recommend checking out Lindsey Williams' "The Energy Non-Crisis" on Google Video or Youtube. Just about everything that is fucked up in the world is tied into the machinations of power grubbing oilmen and bankers. (If you don't see it yet, I think you will sooner or later. It's getting harder for them to keep all the heads of the Hydra disguised.)

As to the topic of a metal revolution of some kind, I suppose it would be nice. I'm not sure what Hessianism is and I don't really need to know the details. What I wanted to do is to comment on the idea of music as a vehicle of change.

When I was an optimistic youngster, my goal was to be just like Kenny Rogers in the song "She Believes In Me", to wit:

And she believes in me, Ill never know just what she sees in meI told her someday if she was my girl, I could change the worldWith my little songs, I was wrong

Now, I don't play country music. I loathe country music, BUT I remember just about everything I hear and if the message fits, use it. Back to the optimistic youngster days:

I knew that the world was fucked up when I was a kid, I just didn't understand HOW (or why) it was fucked up. I knew that armed with the power of reason, if I could communicate a better idea to the masses, then I could (theoretically) effect change. The main question seemed to be "What means of communication should I use?"

Writing, while a natural talent of mine, is something I have no real passion for. And what good is writing anyway? I've been reading brilliant op-ed pieces by regular folks all my life. Has ANYONE EVER acceded to their common sense? Hell, no! The wonderful, functional ideas of normal, logical people are routinely ignored by people whose income depends almost entirely on ignoring wonderful, functional ideas. Fuck writing (except to vent and bitch for MY OWN pleasure. . .ahh, Hedone!)

Anyway, I thought music would be a better vehicle. And it's not. Within the overall commercial music industry, anyone with 3 brain cells knows that the pop garbage that gets spewed on radio and TV has no redeeming musical, lyrical or artistic merit. The message of that kind of music seems to be a universal "Yes, yes, that's it, let your mind atrophy...stay on your couch...play Madden2007 instead of picking up that football...you LIKE food rich in cholesterol...think what we tell you to think...vote for who we tell you to vote for...do only the drugs we approve of..." and so on.

The metal community, while not a pawn of the conspiracy for the most part (there are exceptions..or "ek-sep-shones" as Hetfield would sing it, and isn't that funny, he's one of the eksepshones himself) doesn't really have much of a chance of getting out a unified message because the metal community itself isn't unified.

Which type of metal do you listen to? Just one? A few? All? Which metal symbolism appeals to you the most? Halfordesque "Running Wild" type individuality, the ol' reliable Satan-as-an-anti-societal-symbol viewpoint (or Cthulhu, if you're named Azagthoth), or maybe you just like vicariously venting your wrath by imagining shoving your arms into someone's rotting bowels up to your shoulders and looking for secret messages in their entrails? Metal is too fragmented to present any kind of unified message.

And I think that metalheads, again for the most part -- I can't say this applies to everyone, are too focused on their own definitions of what is metal and what relates to metal to try "coming together" philosophically with other metalheads.

Maybe if some metal bands started explicitly saying things like "Kill your masters or you will be tortured to death in a FEMA concentration camp in a few years", THEN we could have some kind of revolution. . .oh, wait, COC already did that with "Vote With A Bullet". I give up for now.

And what good is writing anyway? I've been reading brilliant op-ed pieces by regular folks all my life. Has ANYONE EVER acceded to their common sense? Hell, no! The wonderful, functional ideas of normal, logical people are routinely ignored by people whose income depends almost entirely on ignoring wonderful, functional ideas.

The 2% of people in society who are smart are disunified because they pay more attention to status than to getting the job done.

If we can fix that, we can fix this situation, because the dumb masses can be induced to vote for anything given a big enough PR campaign.

If the Hessian Idea is essentially to convert metal as a whole into a revolutionary force, it seems obvious that it is absurd. A cursory examination of the general condition of metal and its hordes of fans will suggest to us that our basic raw material is not up to par.

For political reforms, seek political groups. What's important is that metalheads recognize they are not unique, but share an artistic vision with other movements. The difference between a metalhead and a classical modernist, or Romantic poet, is semantics and nothing else.

For the health of an artistic genre, leaders are needed who can assert what it is, what it believes, and why it should move forward. Metal lacked these, and collapsed, so we're rebuilding.

If the Hessian Idea is essentially to convert metal as a whole into a revolutionary force, it seems obvious that it is absurd.

Metal has always been mostly inconsequential, with a few people who make a big difference and ideas that later get adopted by others. They want to be what honest metal is, but they can't cross the line to get out of their social perspective.

What we need to do is encourage that transcendence. Through nihilism, we remove our internal part of the illusion, and then we can rebuild and then rejoin that new idea with the mass. It's like memetic natural selection.